San Joaquin County Biographies
This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm
W. O. BARNHART.
A practical orchardist and poultryman of San Joaquin County, who has
been a resident of California since 1873, is W. O. Barnhart, residing on his
five-acre orchard home on Walnut Avenue, three-quarters of a mile west of Lodi.
He was born at Williamsport, Pa., July 22, 1860. His parents were George W. and
Sabina C. (Oriville) Barnhart, farmers in Pennsylvania, who moved to Rochelle,
Ill., and there resided until he was eight years old. Then the family removed to
Marshalltown, Iowa, and bought a quarter-section of land, which they farmed. W.
O. Barnhart is the youngest of a family of four children, the others being
Thomas M., who lives at Lodi; Sarah E., Mrs. Keefer, of Lodi; and Lizza Ann,
Mrs. Evans, of Oakland. In 1873 the family left their Iowa home for California,
and settled in Sacramento County on a grant of land northeast of the capital
city; and there the son spent the days of his boyhood and youth and acquired his
education in the public schools.
When Mr. Barnhart started to make his own way in the world, he found
employment with the Southern Pacific Company at Sacramento, and later with the
same company at the Oakland Mole, which engaged his attention for four years. In
1884 he went to Sprecklesville, Maui, Hawaiian Islands, and worked as an
engineer in the sugar plantation mills, remaining there for four years. Then he
went to Honolulu and became a locomotive engineer on the O. R. & L. Railroad for
another four years. From 1893 to 1900 he served in the Honolulu fire department.
In 1900 he formed an express company, known as the Peoples Express Company, and
became manager of the company; and in 1905 organized the Barnhart Ice Company,
and headed this company, the two companies commanding his full attention until
1919, when he returned to California and settled near Lodi.
While residing in Honolulu, Mr. Barnhart was married, on October 29,
1892, to Miss Florence May Giles, a native of Fonthill, Canada, and a daughter
of Harold and Elizabeth Giles, who settled in Honolulu when their daughter
Florence May was one year old. Her father was a furniture merchant at Wailuhu,
Maui, and there were five children in the family, as follows: Florence May, Mrs.
Barnhart; and Henry E., Mary E., Harold, and Arthur. Both her parents are now
deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Barnhart are the parents of two sons: George H. W.,
consulting engineer for the American factories in Honolulu; and Oriville Arthur,
a senior in the Lodi high school. Mr. Barnhart was a charter member of the Aloha
Lodge, Knights of Pythias, which he joined in 1888 and in which he holds an
honorary degree. He was also an active member of the Honolulu Chamber of
Commerce, and the Oahu Country Club, and the "Ad Club" of Honolulu. When the
family located in Lodi, Mr. Barnhart purchased a twenty-two acre tract in the
Victor section of San Joaquin County, just north of the Mokelumne River bridge,
but in a short time traded it for his present five-acre orchard of walnuts,
plums, cherries, and peaches, with a cover crop of alfalfa between the trees.
Mr. Barnhart is quite extensively engaged as a poultryman, having in the
neighborhood of 600 chickens, and is planning to enlarge his plant until he has
2,000. He enjoys the confidence of the business community, and is
public-spirited in all matters pertaining to community growth.
History of San Joaquin County, California � Los Angeles, Historic Record Co.,
1923
p 1112
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.